So, I've honestly been considering trying for Med school. My only problem is that i'm 21 now with about 4 semesters at a CC, and I have maintained a 3.7 GPA, but I never thought about Med school before so I would be starting from scratch. I did recently apply to a local 4-year institution and I should have no problem being accepted.
My question is this What to major in, and what should I start to do to build a solid med school application?
I've been thinking Psychology although I did hear that Biology is the best route to take if you want to ensure acceptance into a medical college.
Major in anything that isn't a specific career-path major (such as nursing or education) that you would enjoy, you can get A's in, and you can fit the sciences you need to apply in. Most pre meds tend to be bio majors, but there is no advantage; Biology is definitely NOT "the best route to take if you want to ensure acceptance into medical college" because there is no best major. The best major is the one you can get the highest GPA in, as simple as that. Same thing goes for double majors or minors, adcoms don't care, they just care about your sGPA and cGPA, and possibly about specific classes you have or have not taken.
As far as building an application, first is grades, so don't take on any significant time commitments until you have successfully transitioned to your 4 year school.
Once you are all set with that, start volunteering, definitely in a clinical setting but adding non clinical in as well is always good. If you can, make it something you start, organize, build, and run (but again, don't let your grades suffer at all.) Medical volunteering should be long term, not necessarily a huge number of hours a week, but a few years of volunteering at a hospital or clinic is ideal, even if just for an hour or two a week.
Try to find a research opportunity, something in any of the hard sciences is good, it doesn't have to be medical (though that is great if you can land it).
Shadow some doctors in a variety of professions, including primary care. You want to be able to talk about what a doctor actually does each day, and be able to talk about why you want to be a doctor with some actual personal observations.
The above (research, clinical volunteering, general volunteering, shadowing, leadership) will make you a strong applicant if you have a competitive GPA and MCAT score to go along with them. The important thing with ECs is not checking boxes for categories, but making the experiences meaningful to you. It would be better to have a single EC that is important to you, that you get a lot out of and put a lot into than to have one of every available category checked off, but you neither got anything out of any of them nor put anything into them.
TL,DR: Major doesn't matter, grades are all that is important there. MCAT is vital. Quality over quantity with ECs. Be able to talk about why you want to be a doctor using first-hand experience from your ECs.
